How to Create a Revit Family: A Beginner's Guide

A Revit family is a group of elements with shared properties and a common graphical representation.

In Revit, almost everything is a family: a door, a window, a piece of furniture, a column, even a text label. A family bundles geometry and a set of parameters (such as width, height and material), letting you create multiple variants within a single family. Those variants are called types: a door family, for example, can contain types 800, 900 and 1000 mm wide.

There are three kinds of families, and it's important to tell them apart:

Remember the difference between a family and a type. The family is the template with all the rules and geometry; the types are the ready-to-use variants you pull from that template. Within a single door family, multiple widths exist as separate types, and in the project you simply choose the type you need. This reduces the number of files and keeps your model consistent, because any change to the family propagates to all its types.

As a beginner, you'll learn fastest with loadable families, because you create them in the separate Family Editor and can reuse them in any project. This article therefore focuses on creating a loadable family, from template to loaded component.

You start a new family by choosing the right template in the Family Editor.

The Family Editor is a separate workspace without a building context, designed for building a single component. You open it like this:

1. Go to File > New > Family.
2. Choose a template with the .rft extension, for example Metric Furniture, Metric Generic Model or Metric Door.
3. Click Open; the Family Editor starts with the associated reference planes and views.

Template choice is not a detail. The template determines the category of the family (Furniture, Doors, Windows and so on), and that category governs how the family behaves: which schedules it appears in, whether it attaches to a wall, and which schedules it counts in. If you're unsure about the category, Generic Model is a neutral starting point that you can later adjust via Family Category and Parameters.

Pay attention to the units: choose a template that starts with "Metric" so you work in millimetres, not inches. Some templates have built-in special behaviour. A door or window template, for example, already contains a wall opening and expects the family to be hosted by a wall; a face-based template places itself on any surface. The template also provides default views (plan, front and side) in which you can work straight away, plus the central reference planes that mark the origin.

Reference planes form the skeleton to which you lock your geometry.

Before you draw a single shape, place reference planes. These are invisible helper planes (they won't appear in the final model) that determine how your component aligns and scales. Think of them as the scaffolding for your family.

Work in this order:

1. Using the Reference Plane tool (shortcut RP), draw at least two planes for the width and two for the depth.
2. Lock the planes symmetrically around the origin (the intersection of the central planes) so that the component stays centred.
3. Give important planes a name in the Properties palette so you can find them easily later.

Set the origin correctly, too. The central planes have the Defines Origin property enabled; that intersection becomes the insertion point you'll use to place the family in the project. A wrong insertion point is a classic beginner mistake that costs you a lot of clicking later.

Always build a family from the inside out: first the skeleton of reference planes, then dimensions, then parameters, and only then the geometry. Anyone who starts drawing immediately will get stuck as soon as the family needs to scale, because there's nothing to link the shape to. The sequence skeleton – dimensions – parameters – geometry is the backbone of every properly functioning family.

Parameters make your family flexible and adjustable.

Now attach dimensions to your reference planes and make those dimensions controllable. Place a dimension line between two width planes, select the dimension and, on the ribbon, choose Label > New parameter. This lets you create, for example, a Width parameter.

When creating the parameter, you choose two things:

• Type or instance: a type parameter applies to all elements of that type (changing it alters every instance). An instance parameter can be set independently for each placed element.
• Family parameter or shared parameter: a standard family parameter is sufficient for internal use. If you want the value to appear in schedules or tags, use a shared parameter, because only shared parameters show up there.

For centring, use the EQ equality constraint: select the dimension chain between the centre plane and the outer planes and click EQ; the component will then always remain symmetrical. This builds a parametric family that scales neatly instead of distorting.

Parameters can also calculate. In the Family Types dialog, you can give a parameter a formula – for example, a thickness that is always one-tenth of the height, or an intermediate dimension that adjusts as the width changes. This way you link dimensions together without setting each one separately. Keep formulas simple and check while flexing that they produce realistic values; a formula that gives a negative value at large sizes will break the family.

You build geometry using extrusion, blend, revolve or sweep and lock it to the reference planes.

Only now do you draw the actual shape. Revit has five tools for creating solid or void forms:

The most important rule: align every edge of your geometry with a reference plane and lock it using the padlock icon. If you don't, your dimension will change but the shape stays put. Only locked geometry will move when you adjust the parameters. Draw an extrusion up to the reference planes and click each padlock to make the link permanent.

Also watch the work plane. Every shape you draw sits on a work plane; if that plane is wrong, your geometry ends up at the wrong height or orientation. Set the work plane deliberately using the Set Work Plane tool before you start drawing. If you want an opening or a cut-out, use a void: you draw the same forms but as a hollow shape that cuts material from the solid.

Test your family by flexing the parameters before you load it.

Flexing means: changing the parameter values and checking that the geometry moves correctly. This is the step beginners skip, and it causes broken families later.

1. Open Family Types in the ribbon.
2. Change a value, for example Width from 800 to 1200 mm, and click Apply.
3. See whether the shape grows without coming loose or distorting.
4. Repeat with a few extreme values to find weak spots.

If something doesn't move, that piece of geometry is missing a lock to the corresponding reference plane. Fix that in the Family Editor before continuing. You may also want to create a few useful types straight away (for example standard sizes) using the New Type button in the same dialog.

Save the family as .rfa and load it into your model with Load into Project.

A finished family is saved via File > Save As > Family; the file gets the .rfa extension. Give it a clear name, because that's what will appear in the Project Browser.

Loading goes like this:

1. In the Family Editor, click Load into Project on the ribbon.
2. If more than one project is open, choose the correct target project.
3. The family now appears under its category in the Project Browser; drag it into the model or place it with the appropriate tool.

If you later adjust the family, load it into the project again. Revit will ask how it should handle existing instances: overwrite existing type parameter values or keep them. Choose carefully, because overwriting resets any manual adjustments in the project back to the family's values. If you use shared parameters, they come from a shared parameter file (.txt); store that file centrally so every drafter uses the same definitions and the values end up in the same schedule columns.

If you're working in a team on a shared model, load the family into the central file and synchronise, so everyone gets the same version. For details on how that collaboration works, read our guide on setting up Revit worksharing and the central model. If loading or synchronising goes wrong, the article on resolving a Revit central model error will help you.

Creating a simple table lets you practise all the steps on a small scale.

Theory sticks best with a concrete component. As an exercise, build a rectangular table with adjustable width, depth and height:

1. Start a new family using the Metric Furniture template.
2. In the plan view, draw four reference planes: two for width and two for depth, symmetrically around the origin with EQ.
3. Attach dimensions to those planes and create the parameters Width and Depth (type parameters).
4. Create an extrusion for the tabletop, align its edges with the reference planes and lock them.
5. Go to a front view, set the work plane and draw four legs as separate extrusions; link the height to a Height parameter.
6. Open Family Types, change Width, Depth and Height, and click Apply to flex.
7. Save as .rfa and load the table into a test project.

If the table moves correctly with every size change, you've mastered the core of family creation. From here, more complex components are mostly more of the same: more reference planes, more parameters and more careful locking.

Avoid common beginner mistakes by locking geometry and choosing the correct category.

A few pitfalls trip up almost every beginner:

• Geometry not locked: the shape doesn't move when flexing. Align every edge with a reference plane and click the padlock closed.
• Wrong category: the family doesn't appear in the right schedule or behaves oddly. Correct it via Family Category and Parameters.
• Wrong insertion point: the family doesn't place where you click. Set the Defines Origin property on the central planes.
• Ordinary parameter instead of shared: the value doesn't show in schedules or tags. Change it to a shared parameter.
• Overly complex family: too much geometry and parameters make the family heavy and slow. Keep it as simple as the intended use allows.

Build your family step by step and flex after each step, and it will remain manageable. Start with a simple component (a table or a cupboard) so you get the rhythm of reference planes, parameters, geometry and flexing under your belt before tackling more complex families. For further reading, see the official Revit documentation from Autodesk.